Marijuana haul suspected in boat beached in Big Sur

U.S. Customs officials are investigating the discovery of a Panga boat at Garrapata State Beach in Big Sur early Saturday that was believed to have been used to smuggle thousands of pounds of marijuana.

State parks lifeguards spotted the 36-foot boat beached on the sand while conducting a routine foot patrol about 9:30 a.m. Saturday, and discovered a 35-pound bale of marijuana hidden in bushes under a tree nearby, according to Monterey State Parks lifeguard supervisor James Nothhelfer.

Officers from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency estimated several hundred bales of marijuana had been off-loaded from the boat on Friday night, according to a Monterey County Sheriff's Office news release.

The boat, powered by two 200-horsepower outboard engines, contained several 55-gallon plastic drums filled with gasoline, and several pieces of clothing. Smaller versions of the boat are commonly used for commercial fishing in developing countries, but larger boats are frequently used to transport contraband from Mexico to the U.S.

In addition to state parks officers and sheriff's deputies, state Department of Fish and Game officers also responded to the incident, according to the release.

Nothhelfer said officials were still trying to figure out how to remove the boat from the beach late Sunday.

He said state parks officials discovered a similar type of boat offshore at Monastery Beach last month, and speculated that both boats were being used to smuggle marijuana from Mexico.

In July, a state parks lifeguard discovered a drug smuggling operation involving a Panga boat on a remote beach 10 miles north of Santa Cruz that involved 175 bundles of marijuana, and led to the arrest of four men.

Large Panga boats containing marijuana have also been discovered on Ventura and San Luis Obispo county beaches in the past few months.

On Feb. 5, Coast Guard patrols spotted a Panga boat with nearly two dozen 40-pound bales of marijuana near Point Mugu in Ventura County, leading to the arrest of two people.

That followed the arrest last month of more than a dozen people, about half of them in the country illegally, in connection with the discovery off a different Ventura County beach of a 30-foot Panga boat containing between 1,500 and 2,000 pounds of marijuana. The suspects were loading the marijuana into an RV when they were caught, authorities said.

Also last month, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's deputies found a 45-foot Panga boat containing between 3,500 and 4,000 pounds of marijuana on the beach at Estero Bluffs State Park.